Shockproof carton



April 17, 1962 H. s. TAYLOR, JR 3,029,998

SHOCKPROOF CARTON Filed March 25, 1959 INVENTOR v mnmad J: [lg hi ATTORNEYS United States Patent Uffice aaaasas Patented Apr. 17, 1962 York Filed Mar. 25, 1959, Ser. No. 801,802 2 Claims. (Cl. 229-39) This invention relates to shock proof cartons, and more particularly to such cartons in which the frangible merchandise to be packaged in them is held spaced from the outer walls of the carton.

The present invention will be described with respect to an integral carton for use in packaging a radio tube, but the carton of the present invention is not limited to such a singular use, as it may be used for packaging such, goods as vials of chemicals, medicines and the like.

Cartons of the general type to which the present invention is directed are broadly known. However, such known cartons either do not provide maximum protection for an article such as a radio tube, because they do not hold the base as well as the glass envelope away from the outer walls of the carton, or they are not satisfactory for use in automatic packaging machines inasmuch as their erection by packaging machines now inuse is not reliable, and costly stoppages are too frequent.

Due to the great number of cartons needed for radio tubes, for example, it is essential that the cost of manufacture be kept as low as possible. A reduction of one step in the manufacture of the carton or a small saving of material for an individual carton amounts to an overall annual saving of a substantial sum.

Consequently, it is an object of the present invention to provide an iiitegral'shockproof carton which is easily erected from a fiat position to one in which the sides are at right angles to each other, and oiiers resistance to collapsing upon continual application of the erecting force after the right angular position of its sides have been reached.

Another object of the present invention is to provide such an integral carton in which an inner suspension means embraces the article and said inner suspension means and the outer container are secured by a single glue line.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide such an integral carton in which the inner suspension means is unfailingly erected when the carton is erected.

A further object of the present invention is to provide such an integral carton in which the article is in contact with only two points of an inner sleeve, and these are points at which the sleeve is spaced from the outer walls of the carton.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide such a carton with guide means at the loading end of the sleeve which guide the tube during insertion, so that it is centered in the sleeve.

A further object still is to provide such a carton in which the sleeve is attached to only one wall of the carton by only one wall of the sleeve, so that the sleeve is floatingly held within the carton.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a blank from which a carton according to the present invention may be formed;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of an erected carton made from the blank shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 33 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a transverse sectional view of the carton shown in FIGURE 3, in which the carton is in collapsed condition; and I FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of the carton shown in FIGURE 2.

Adverting now to the drawing, and particularly to FIGURE 1, there is shown a cardboard blank 10, having panels 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 17, together with the bridging panels 16 and 18, separated by the fold lines 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26, all of the folds being in the same outward direction, as by folding the panel 12 downward from the panel 13 along the fold line 21 from the position shown in FIGURE 1. The scoring of the fold lines predisposes them for breaking when the box is erected.

Laterally folding closure flaps 27, 28 and 29, 30 are integrally connected to opposite ends of the panels 11 and 13, respectively, at the hinge lines 31, 32 and 33, 34, respectively. Also main closure flaps 35, 36 for closing opposite ends of the carton, respectively, are integrally connected to the panels 14- and 12 at the hinge lines 37, 38, respectively. The tucks 39 and 40 are integrally connected to the closures 35, 36, respectively, at the hinge lines 41, 42. The lateral portions of the hinge lines 41,

42 are slit as at 410, ill), 42a and 42b, to provide locks which cooperate with the shouldered keeper sections 43, 44 and 45, 46 of the flaps 27, 28 and 29, 30, respectively. As best seen in FIGURES l and 5, the tucks 39 and 40 are provided with camming surfaces 47, 48 and 49, 50, respectively, which cooperate with the cam surfaces 51, 52 and 53, 54 of the flaps 27, 28 and 29, 30, respectively, to guide the slits 41a, 41b and 42a, 42b into locking relation with the shouldered keeper sections 43, 44 and 45, 46,

' respectively.

A breach 55 is provided between the lateral flaps 29 and the main closure flap 36, so that the filler end of the carton may be more easily closed by the packaging machine.

The carton is formed by folding the panels 17, 18 onto the panels 15, 16 at the fold line 25; then folding the thus folded panels 17, 18, 15 and 16 onto the panels 13, 14 at the fold line 23; and folding the folded panels 17, 18, 15, 16, 13 and 14 onto the panels 11, 12. Adhesive 56 is applied to the panel 15, and upon completion of the described folding, the panel 15 will be pressed into adhesive jointure with the panel 11. The carton thus formed is in collapsed condition. A plurality of such collapsed cartons are packaged in bundles for insertion in an article packaging machine. When pressure is applied at the fold lines 21 and 23, the carton is erected to provide an outer walled container 57 having an inner sleeve 58, which in cross-section has the shape of a parallelogram, as seen in FIGURE 3.

The sleeve 58 is formed from the panels 15, 16, 17 and 18. The edge 59 of the panel 18 is a free edge, and only one glue line is used in forming the carton. The parallelogram cross-sectional shape of the sleeve and its diagonal placement in the carton results in positive erection of the sleeve when the carton is erected, and also provides a means for suspending an article wholly out of contact with the outer walls of the carton. The height of the parallelogram sleeve is substantially less than the diameter of the article to be suspended in the sleeve, so that the bridging walls of the sleeve will snugly embrace the article to hold it against lateral movement toward the walls of the sleeve which are in contact with the walls of the outer container 57.

As seen in FIGURE 4, when the carton is in flat or collapsed position, the fold line 25 of the sleeve 58 is spaced a substantial distance from the fold line 21 of the outer container 57. As the carton is erected, the fold 25 first approaches and then seats in the fold 21 when the carton is fully erected. The fold line 26 abuts the panel 13 and forces the free edge 59 of the panel 18 securely in the fold 23. The bridging panels 18 and 16 act as struts to prevent the carton from moving past its right angular erected position to a collapsed position in the direction opposite from that from which it was erected. Thus, if the carton becomes canted in the article loading machine, pressure on the fold 21 will drive the fold 23 back into alignment on the machine support, since this force is transmitted through the bridging panels 1-8 and 16.-

When the carton is erected in the loading machine, the machine will insert an article in the sleeve 58. The receiving end of the sleeve panels 16 and 18 are provided with V-shaped camming surfaces 60, 61 to guide the article to the longitudinal center line of these bridging panels which embrace and hold the article suspended away from the outer container 57.

When the article is inserted, the loading machine folds the lateral end flaps to closed position and inserts the tucks of the main closure flaps and presses these main flaps to closed position. Continued pressure snaps the locking slits into locked position on the keeper shoulders of the lateral end flaps.

Although the adhesive 56 has been shown and described as covering the surface of the panel 15, it need be only a thin line of glue on the panel 15 adjacent the fold line 23. This single line of glue is the securing means for the outer container 57 and the inner sleeve 58 of the shock proof carton 10.

While there has been disclosed in the foregoing description a practical embodiment of the shock proof carton in accordance with the present invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that variations in the implementation of the concept of the invention are within the purview and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A collapsible shockproof carton folded up from a blank comprising, a series of wall panels connected to one another serially along their side edges and folded along their lines of juncture to form a rectangular outer carton with the end panels of the series meeting at a corner of the outer carton, a series of liner panels connected to one another serially along their side edges and folded along their lines of juncture to form a liner having pairs of opposed parallel panels, the pairs of liner panels including one pair of opposed panels of less width than the wall panels and one pair of unscored and unbroken opposed panels of greater width than the wall panels, one of the liner panels of less width being in tegrally joined along one side edge to one of the end wall panels of the series at the meeting corner of the outer carton and adhered in surface contact with the other of the end wall panels at the meeting corner, the other liner panel of less width lying in surface contact with the opposed wall panel to the one to which the firstrnentioned liner panel of less width is adhered and having one side edge abutting the corner of the outer carton diagonally opposite the meeting corner of the outer carton, whereby the liner panels of less width occupy staggered positions on the wall panels with which they are in surface contact, with each liner panel of less width extending from a corner of the outer carton part way along the respective wall panel with which it is in contact, and the unscored and unbroken liner panels of greater width extending from the side edges of the liner panels of less width spaced from the carton corners into the opposite corners of the outer carton.

2. A collapsible shockproof carton folded up from a blank as claimed in claim 1 wherein closure flaps are hingedly connected to opposite ends of the wall panels.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,732,996 Pantalone Jan. 31, 1956 2,783,692 Bolding Mar. 5, 1957 2,808,193 Michalka Oct. 1, 1957 2,841,320 Currivan July 1, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 241,097 Great Britain Oct. 15, 1925 

